What do beauty consumers want right now?

In March 2024, the multinational beauty brand Avon commissioned Censuswide to undertake a research study of 7,172 women (18+) in the UK, Italy, Poland, Turkey, South Africa, Philippines & Romania markets to find out what consumers need and prioritise when it comes to beauty.

The company has published the results of this research in its Future of Beauty Report: Skincare, which revealed that consumers were prioritising skin health over ‘anti-ageing’; the skin minimalism trend is gaining momentum; sustainability is a driving force behind brand admiration; consumers have a growing penchant for dupe products; and there is a lack of trust in skin care ‘influencers’.

Anti-ageing is less important than skin health​

According to Avon’s findings, the main reasons for using a skin care regime was for skin health, wellbeing and hydration – while anti-ageing was further down the list of priorities.

A huge 97% of women quizzed said they used skin care to have hydrated skin; 97% also said it was for ongoing health and wellbeing, while fewer women (92%) gave anti-ageing as a reason.

The brand shared that it had first observed this trend in its 2022 Power in Ageing report, where half of women agreed that the Covid-19 pandemic had made them realise that their health is more important than looks (50%) and nearly three quarters (72%) said they wanted to focus on looking healthy rather than young as a result.

What is the skinimalism trend in skin care?​

Globally, across all ages and income brackets, Avon’s research also revealed that 63% of women now preferred a more pared-back skin care regime; with most using a maximum of three skin care products.

Avon’s chief marketing officer Özlem Çitçi elaborated on the fact that the brand’s research has observed this increase in momentum for the ‘Skinimalism’ trend.

“Our research shows that more than two thirds of women globally are slimming down their skin care regimes, whether it’s financially motivated or they prefer the ‘less is more’ approach,” shared Çitçi.

“This also correlates with another of our key findings, that more women (97%) are prioritising skin health over skin ageing, with general health and wellbeing prevailing over the desire for skin youth (92%),” she continued.

“We recognise that in a time where the economy is unreliable, it’s vital that our customers can still feel confident in scaling down their skin care regimes while keeping their trust in us to deliver the results they want no matter how many products they use. As we highlight in the report, there’s an understanding that you don’t have to pay exorbitant prices to get products that work.”

Younger consumers are favouring dupes​

As the cost of living continues to rise, more cosmetics consumers have been trying to spend less money and are instead choosing ‘dupes’ – products that emulate more expensive beauty products at a much more affordable price.

The research identified that globally, Millennial and Gen Z consumers were spearheading the dupe trend. For example, in the UK, 64% of Gen Zs agreed that swapping out dupe products was a good way to save money.

While in France, 54% of consumers aged between 16-34 went as far as saying that dupes of premium and luxury products provided the same experience as the original.

In Poland, 21% of women had lost faith in the more costly options, saying they no longer believed that they’re more efficacious than cheaper versions.

Interestingly, in some of the ‘emerging market’ countries, there was still a belief that the original luxury products were better than dupes. 

In the Philippines, only 7% of beauty consumers believed that cheaper products were as effective as the originals.

While in Turkey, nearly a third (30%) of women said they were willing to spend more on skin care products and economise in other areas as they viewed their skin as an investment.

Skin care influencers: not a trusted source ​

Although beauty influencers have long been building audiences by dishing out skincare advice, more than a third of women (36%) quizzed in the research said that a real-life dermatologist or doctor would be the person they trust most to help them care for their skin.

Beauty shoppers in the UK were the least trusting of any ‘expert’ source – with a huge 22% saying they did not trust anyone when it comes to skincare advice.

While in Romania, women favoured the advice of online skin professionals (36%) and in South Africa, 14% women placed their faith in their family skincare secrets; valuing the opinion of their sister, mother and grandmother.

Consumers want sustainable products (but don’t want to cover costs) ​

Nearly two thirds (62%) of women said they would be prepared to pay more for a skin care product that was more sustainable, with women in the Philippines (77%) and South Africa (73%) leading the way.

When asked for their reasoning, three-quarters of women across the globe (75%) said they believed that by paying more, they were getting a better-quality product, while 37% said that they felt by paying more they were doing something ‘good’ for the planet.

However, there was also a very strong sense that consumers shouldn’t be footing the bill for business’s sustainability costs Almost half (49%) of all women who said they wouldn’t pay more felt that brands should take on the cost of producing more sustainable products.

This echoed similar research​ from market intelligence company Euromonitor, which revealed that when consumers are struggling financially, sustainability drops way down their list of priorities.

Meanwhile, head of package engineering at Avon, Katarzyna Lato-Jablonska, shared the company has been continually trialling sustainable technologies, as well as investigating renewable and regenerative ingredients for formula and packaging.

“One example is a trial of a carbon negative bioplastic,” she explained. “This material is made by taking carbon from the air and using a biotechnology process to turn it into a compostable bio-plastic material. This not only reduces the carbon footprint of the product but takes additional carbon from the air – so it is carbon-negative.”

The company also has a Lifecycle Assessment tool for measuring the total environmental impact of a product, which Lato-Jablonska said: “measures the entire lifecycle of a product – from water, carbon, waste, and renewability – and enables us to have the data to ensure every product we design is better than the last.”